The Use of Paravertebral Block for Cardiac Surgery

Pain after robotic cardiac surgery is a known problem and is often difficult to manage. Paravertebral nerve blocks are a proven method of pain relief following thoracotomy. A paravertebral block has been shown to provide good pain relief with minimal side effects, however, paravertebral blocks for robotic surgery have not been well studied. Currently the investigators routinely perform PVB on this patient population (of 50 MV robotic cases done between January and October 2012, 36 received paravertebral blocks with no adverse events noted). The investigators believe this should be studied further and that paravertebral blocks will reduce the amount of additional pain medication patients require in the first 24 hours after surgery, decrease intubation time and improve PACU and hospital discharge times.